Best Practices for Enterprise Cloud Computing While it’s not clear who benefits most from self-service IT, it is a trend that is starting to gain traction in the era of the cloud. On the one hand, self-service IT allows end users to access a pre-defined set of IT resources without having to wait for the […]
Best Practices for Enterprise Cloud Computing
While it’s not clear who benefits most from self-service IT, it is a trend that is starting to gain traction in the era of the cloud.
On the one hand, self-service IT allows end users to access a pre-defined set of IT resources without having to wait for the internal IT department to act on a request. At the same time, self-service IT frees IT people, many of whom lack personal skills, to concentrate on tasks that add more value to the business.
Citrix became the latest vendor to embrace this trend with the release today of CloudPortal Business Manager 2.0, an update to a platform for managing the delivery of cloud services. It adds support for cloud applications in addition to infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platforms.
According to Tom McCafferty, senior director of product marketing for Citrix, CloudPortal Business Manager gives IT organizations access to software development kits and application programming interfaces that they can use to connect the portal to any type of cloud service. End users are then directed to the portal to access a catalog of those services, giving the IT organization control over what services are used without having to manually provision access every time an end user makes a request for a particular cloud service.
For IT organizations, that approach provides a solution for monitoring and metering access to cloud services from a compliance perspective, while giving end users the ability to quickly access a service without having to wait days, sometimes even weeks, for IT to provision it.
McCafferty says that when it comes to deploying cloud services using a self-service portal, IT organizations would be well-advised to take a measured approach. Rather than loading up a catalog with every imaginable cloud service, organizations should add services over an extended period of time to make sure they are comfortable with how those services are being used. After all, most cloud services are priced based on usage, which without proper supervision can easily spin out of control.
Michael Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist, with nearly 30 years of experience writing and editing about enterprise IT issues. He is a contributor to publications including Programmableweb, IT Business Edge, CIOinsight and UBM Tech. He formerly was editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise, where he launched the company’s custom content division, and has also served as editor in chief for CRN and InfoWorld. He also has held editorial positions at PC Week, Computerworld and Digital Review.
The go-to resource for IT professionals from all corners of the tech world looking for cutting edge technology solutions that solve their unique business challenges. We aim to help these professionals grow their knowledge base and authority in their field with the top news and trends in the technology space.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
